Ecological Intensification and Ecosystem Services

Forests play an important
role in the production of food, fuel, fibre and the provisions of other goods
and services critical for human well-being. The quality and quantity of
biodiversity, that underpins production systems, also benefits from forests.

IFAD’s Oliver Page, speaking at The Rio
Pavilion at CBD COP13, said that every year large areas of forests are lost.
The majority of crop and livestock production systems are, unfortunately, still
among the most significant drivers of global deforestation.

Page was facilitating a session in the
Forest and Agriculture Day on
Ecological Intensification and Ecosystem Services. The event was co-organised
by UNEP, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity
(TEEB) and the International Institute for
Sustainable Development (IISD).

TEEB’s Salman
Hussain opened the session with a keynote address on ‘Recognizing the value of agro-forestry
systems to global production‘.

Hussain
said that TEEB AgriFood commissions
feeder studies on forestry, investigating the co-benefits of carbon mitigation as
it is not just about sequestration.

TEEB
are trying to avoid just giving a value to agroforests as policy makers prefer
to have an analysis of the status quo vs different inputs. In this way, they
can highlight the value added using various valuation methods.

Oliver
Page rounded off the presentation by saying how this study provides the hard
evidence which allows us to take this beyond the walls of the already converted
and influence policy.

He
spoke of a new FAO publication linking mainstreaming ecosystems services and
biodiversity. But why the focus on ecosystems and biodiversity?

Mba
said that sustainable agricultural production systems can reduce carbon footprints.
However, agricultural and food systems have significant social and biological constraints.
Agriculture at the farm level can be regenerating, but solutions need to be
targeted as ‘one size fits all’ does not work.

Bernardo
Strassburg, Executive Director, IISD, gave an illuminating presentation on ’Agricultural
intensification as a key to achieving climate commitments in Brazil while
reducing pressure on biodiversity in the Cerrado’.

Achieving
climate change commitments in Brazil will require a mix of policy, science and
practice. The biggest challenge of the 21st century is how to feed
the world, produce enough food and at the same time protect land.

He
gave an in-depth review of the IISD hypothesis that Brazil already has enough
suitable land to intensify farming with no more deforestation needed and
actually with some restoration of existing agricultural land.

In
this hypothesis, meat production would increase with more efficient land use,
meaning higher carrying capacities. Carrying capacity is the number of
livestock units a certain area of land can support - relative to a 100 per cent
efficient pasture. When pastureland is well managed and efficient, its carrying
capacity increases. Ideally there would be an increase to just 49 per cent carrying
capacity in 30 years. It is currently producing between 32-34 per cent of what
it could.

“By
2040 we could go from 32 per cent to 49 per cent carrying capacity which would
still only equal the production of Mexico. If we could get to 70 per cent by
2040 it would liberate 36 million hectares of land.”

There
have been extremely good results with this hypothesis and it is ready to be
up-scaled. Failure to do so could see catastrophic loss of biodiversity in the
Cerrado, equalling if not exceeding that of recent global extinctions.

He
said that they have done studies as to why this intensification coupled with
land restoration/liberation hasn’t been taken up sooner - mainly the high cost
of intensification and the limited access to finance. One surprising obstacle
was the lack of access to qualified labour. Strassburg believed this was one of
the most significant barricades and needed to be rectified with trainings.

Overall it was a fascinating and
engaging session, prompting many questions and encouraging audience
participation.

Oliver Page rounded off the session
saying that with all the information and techniques currently available we have
a duty to upscale sustainable action and push forward at all levels.